Hormone Therapy Or Chemotherapy Before Surgery Based on Gene Expression Analysis in Treating Patients With Breast Cancer

Assessed the feasibility of carrying out a large-scale multi-center trial in which recurrence score (RS) was used to select treatment type in the neoadjuvant setting. Whether patients with intermediate RS were willing to be randomized between hormonal and chemotherapy.

The treatment received was not experimental and considered standard treatment for the type of cancer the participants had. What was experimental included the way in which they were assigned to a type of treatment. The design of this study was used to help determine if RS can be used to predict which type of treatment women with breast cancer are most likely to benefit from.

OUTLINE: Patients are assigned to 1 of 3 groups based on RS following Oncotype Dx gene expression profiling.

* GROUP 1 (RS \< 11): Patients receive neoadjuvant hormonal therapy comprising tamoxifen (pre-menopausal women) or an aromatase inhibitor (post-menopausal women) for 4-6 months in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. * GROUP 2 (RS 11-25): Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms:

* ARM 1: Patients receive neoadjuvant hormonal therapy as in group I. * ARM 2: Patients receive 6-8 courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy comprising an anthracycline/taxane based regimen over 4-6 months in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. * GROUP 3 (RS \> 25): Patients receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy as in group 2 arm 2.

All patients undergo surgery and receive hormonal therapy for at least 5 years.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up periodically.